How Do You Love Someone?
by berryfuls
Summary: Post-Peter. Olivia's tried to shut Peter out of her life so she wouldn't blow the secret, but that's kind of difficult when they meet up at her sister's second wedding... P/O. T for possible language.
1. GLIMMER of truth

**A/N: My first Fringe story that isn't a one-shot :D Enjoy! Story name inspired by Ashley Tisdale's song. It's really good! Has nothing to do with romance... but I thought its kind of fitting here because Livy doesn't really know how to love.**

**Don't own Fringe. If I did, we wouldn't be waiting a 2-month hiatus. No copyright inFRINGEment intended ;) **

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Olivia was sitting under a pink-flowered tree. A stream flowed by and she was soaking her feet in the rushing water. She was wearing a long, silky, light-blue dress with little stripes the color of pine needles. Her soft blonde hair was down and straight, a flower clip holding it out of her face.

I, of course, was stunned.

She looked like something out of a magazine or a gallery, and here I was, standing by the brick building in a casual tuxedo, just watching her. Not sitting beside her, talking to her and making her laugh like I should be. Nope, I was just leaning against the wall, observing what I would never have.

Ever since she figured out the whole "this is the building that is going to the other universe" thing, she had been very distant from me. Whenever I would say something that would usually get at least a smile, she would look at me, starting to smile, but once she saw me she would turn pale and turn in the other direction. She had been avoiding me, too, but its kind of hard to escape someone when you're both at someone's wedding.

After the whole Greg-divorce thing was settled, Rachel had started going out with her best friend, some guy named Natt. He asked her to marry him about five months ago, and now here we are.

Olivia was supposed to be the maid of honor. Olivia, however, had her feet in a stream.

"Peter!"

I turned around, putting on a smile for Rachel in her beautiful white dress. She grinned back, the excitement for her wedding sparkling in her eyes. "What's up with Liv?"

"No clue," I replied, looking over my shoulder at Olivia. "I just got here."

She nodded slowly. "Right… Well, Natt wants you and her inside, ASAP! And when he says ASAP, he means now." She laughed and walked away, getting ready for no one to know where she was. I waved her off and set across the little field of the vineyard towards Olivia. She looked up when I was a good ten feet away and then quickly turned her attention back to the water. Trying not to feel rejected by that, I sat down next to her.

"Hey, Liv."

"Hi, Peter…"

"I just talked to Rach… She said John wants us inside right about now." She nodded curtly, pulling her feet out of the water and dabbing them dry on the beach towel beside her before pulling on her strappy shoes. She stood up and started walking away with fast footsteps. "Hey, wait up!" I jumped up and ran so I was walking beside her. I caught her arm and made her look at me. "Olivia… what's wrong? You've been so… quiet lately."

"Still coping with seeing a building from the other side and then almost dying thing, Peter. Sorry if I don't get a monologue every time I say something."

"That was three weeks ago. I've almost died on multiple occasions and got over the next day." I put my hand against her cheek, just as I had that night so long ago… "You're hiding something."

----

"You may kiss the bride." I smiled as Natt dipped my sister and kissed her. But I was distracted, as I had been the whole ceremony… by Peter's glimmer.

Things (and people) from the other side have an energy, and I'm the only person we know of in this universe who can see it. It looks like a glimmer, a mirage almost. Kind of like being underwater and seeing something above the surface – it's refracted. And very, very distracting.

I clapped as they strolled up the aisle before everyone followed. As maid of honor, I was forced to walk with the best man who hadn't shown up – and Peter was the last minute substitution. Why? I have no idea. Last week, Natt told me himself that he found Peter to be quite annoying. I had to stop myself from saying "Yeah? You have no idea how annoying he looks." I wish I could turn this ability on and off, so I could actually try to let myself feel something for him. But I can't…

With a hurt smile, he walked up and offered me his arm. After accusing me of hiding something, I said that I was, but I would never tell him what. Then I had kind of stormed off and took my place in the line up.

But I couldn't escape him now. I slipped my arm through his, very formal, as stiff as humanly possible. And the second we were outside the building, I pulled my arm back to me. Everyone was going to the back for the reception, but I veered off so I could walk through back to my tree. I just wanted to be alone. That fact, though, didn't mask the hurt and accusation in Peter's eyes. I hated that I had to hide this huge secret from him.

As I sat back down in the grass and leaned back against the tree, I felt the tears threaten to spill over. The worst part? I swore that I had never cried over someone I didn't love. So – did I love Peter? That was a simple answer. Yes, I did. But did I love him in a relationship way or in an I-tolerate-your-obnoxiousness-because-I-need-you-here-to-keep-my-job way?

I closed my eyes and breathed the fresh air. Music started playing gently, followed by a lot of awww-ing. First dance. They're going through all the motions, even they really just wanted to be at home as a family with Ella. Who was probably dancing with Peter at this moment. That's when the first tear fell over, and then several followed.

"Liv?"

I stiffened and turned. When he saw me, he immediately kneeled down beside me and gave me the hug I've been needing. "'Livia… What's wrong?"

I shook my head, trying to keep anymore tears back. "I can't do this, Peter. I can't keep this secret from you any longer."

"Then tell me what it is."

"I can't! I promised I wouldn't!"

"Promised who?"

I bit my lip. "…I can't say."

"Olivia. Tell me. Please…"


	2. two 'ORDINARY' people

**Thanks for the emails, guys! I think this is the fastest I've updated something... ever. I would have uploaded yesterday, but I was preoccupied by BONES AND FRINGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I thought I would get quite a lot of followers if I uploaded today. So I finished and threw it up here! Enjoy. -happy face-**

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She kind of melted into my arms. I wasn't at all upset about that – whenever I held Olivia, she just felt so fragile and small. I still can't figure out how someone like her got to be in law enforcement. It was one of those things that could keep you up at night.

I didn't get an answer to my question. Somehow, I was comforting her without really knowing what was happening. But sure, I can deal with this.

We didn't say anything for a while. She eventually moved around so she could put her feet back in the stream. I pulled off my own shoes, rolled my pant legs up, and dipped them in beside hers. This time, she smiled. She needed to know that she wasn't alone – I'd always be there for her.

Walter saw it before we even did. He had been hinting at it since, God, the three of us actually came together for the first time. That day almost two years ago, when John Scott was still alive and everything was different. I might not have seen it, but I felt it. The tiny sparks of chemistry had been going off since she bluffed me back into the States. Best choice I ever made for sure. John Scott was a lucky, lucky man. Lucky or charming. I'm just going to go with lucky.

"What was it like growing up with Walter?" she asked suddenly. Random question.

"You've known him for how long now? You know what its like to deal with him."

"But he was sane then." She paused. "Well, more sane then he is now. I'm just waiting for the day you or Broyles calls me and tell me the angry villagers have assembled outside of the lab."

I laughed. That was probably her best joke. "Let's see…" We talked for a while about my childhood, then hers, and we fell silent again. She laid her head on my shoulder and she seemed sleepy. Just then Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" came on over at the reception –which I had long forgot about- and I pulled us up until we were standing.

"Today, Miss Dunham, is the day you truly learn to dance."

---

The song went off and we landed in the grass laughing. Dancing with Peter Bishop is the strangest sensation ever. That might just be because he is a fantastic dancer, even with someone like me. We started off in a sort of waltz with his warm hand on my waist, but as the music got faster we changed to a spinning… sort of thing. I'm not a dance expert.

I lay back in the itchy blades, appreciating the prickle against my skin. Without a hesitation, he lied back too and put his arm under my neck. But I couldn't deal with that kind of closeness with him yet, my insides churning with nerves at the thought of him kissing me. So I moved away.

He didn't say out loud the rejection he felt from that, but I saw it in his face. I just couldn't, not now, not today. Eventually, after his forgiving of me and helping me back into my sandals, we walked slowly back to the reception, since he was kind of supposed to give a little speech. And Natt hated waiting. But I didn't want to go back into that crowd of people trying to get me to dance. So while he slipped off to find the happy couple, I just found a seat close to my tree and tried not to draw attention to myself.

"Well hello, fine lady." I looked up, disgusted, at one of Natt's friends. I think his name was Justin. He was obviously intoxicated, staggering a little bit as his eyes scanned the length of my dress and back. "You're Meagan's sister, right?"

"Meagan?"

"Natt's girlfriend?"

"Her name is Rachel, and she's now his wife."

"So," –he belched while he said that- "what's your name?"

"Samantha," I lied smoothly. "And I think that my husband is about to speak, so if you don't mind…" I tried getting up, but Justin just pulled me back down. He was sitting way to close for me.

"What, are you too good for a little salad on the side?" His hands moved to his flabby sides, caressing his nonexistent waist. "Come on… it's very healthy…" That was when the guy started to grind against his chair, the plastic cup of beer in his hand sloshing all over his tux. How charming.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?"

I looked up at the one man I wanted to see right now. I jumped up and gave him a big hug, which he gave back without question. "We're married and my name's Samantha," I whispered in his ear as I pulled away. His flicker of smile served as acknowledgement enough. Still, when he wrapped his arm around my waist, it felt unexpected but nice at the same time. "There you are! I've been looking for you!" I cooed in what I thought was how married people talked.

He smiled, half amused, and pulling my waist closer to him. Then he turned his attention to Justin, who was eying Peter's hand curiously. "Any reason you were…doing whatever you were doing to that poor chair in front of my wife?" He sounded really mad. His fingers were even tapping impatiently against my hip – how was it that he could be so easy-going with the whole marriage thing?

I looked up at his face and saw the anger and challenge there, but also under the surface was that he loved this. Unfortunately, I had to say was too. The way his arm seems to fit along my waist, how I was at a perfect height to put my head back on his shoulder, even the softness of his jacket against the back of my hand.

Justin just laughed in Peter's face before winking at me and sauntering away. Asshole. But Peter didn't let go. "Peter," I whispered, not moving either, "You can let me go now…"

"Why, Samantha, why on earth would I do that? What if that man comes back? I don't want my wife to be in danger of random harassers! Come on, Rachel wants you." He steered us through the dancing crowd until we found Rachel and Natt waiting for us with a microphone.

"Finally," Natt grumbled, handing Peter the microphone. Grinning, the younger Bishop stepped up. This would be interesting.


	3. what SCARES me

**Okay, its official - I LOVE THIS CHAPTER. Its amazing. Not to gloat or anything... but it just makes me smile!! I think this is the closest I've come to fluff. Muhahaha I love it. :D I made my friend shut up for eleven minutes so I could finish this (I had to, I was losing my mind not writing) so you best enjoy it!**

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I looked out on the crowd, all of them watching me closely. Smoothly, I put on an easy grin and started a little something I had been thinking about for a while now.

"Today is a day for celebration. It's also a day to wonder what you want out of life, if you want the girl, the car, the house, the TV, the other girl," –this got a few chuckles from the single-looking guys- "And it makes you think – what am I waiting for? Now, I've known Natt for a long time, since before even Rachel knew him, and he's 'hated' me since the day we met after I 'accidentally' threw a straw at a cue ball and messed up his whole shot. But isn't it a small world when the sister of your coworker is best friends and is now marrying the guy who is secretly your best friend? Isn't small enough. To Natt for marrying a woman as beautiful and wonderful as Rachel, and to Rachel for not saying no when you should have!" More laughs, even a giggle from Olivia. Everyone gave a little toast and went back to dancing and what not.

I hopped off the gazebo and gave Natt the microphone, who just glared at me, and walked back over to Olivia. "Who knew you could improvise on the spot? I certainly didn't," she said with a slight British accent. I took her drink from her, figuring she was drunk enough, but when I took a sip out of it, I tasted lemonade. She smiled shyly. "What?!"

I handed the cup back to her. She drained the rest of it and tossed it in a nearby trash bag. Suddenly, as I was watching her, she jumped back about two feet and put me between herself and whatever scared her half to death. "What is it?" I asked, going into giant-maneating-monster mode.

"A bee."

I stopped and just looked at her. "You can handle being treated with Cortexiphan, but you're terrified of bees?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and spiders." She peered over my shoulder to see if it was gone. "And, of course, you."

"I scare you."

"Well, not you, more the thought of-" She was interrupted by Rachel's grand appearance. The sisters hugged dramatically and started talking about what I think was the bouquet. I could be wrong, though.

They chatted animatedly and after a while Rachel grabbed Natt's hand and they pretty much skipped away to mingle some more.

I smiled a half smile, walked up behind Olivia, and gave her a gentle hug around the waist. "So, what were you saying?"

---

We were sitting back under the tree, extremely close. Much closer than two "coworkers" should be. Still, the warmth of his arm around me and the easy way he was playing with my fingers was just set off fireworks in my chest. I knew I had never felt this way with any of my past relationships. He was getting under my skin in every little thing he was doing. The only thing he had failed at so far was kissing me – because I had been scared.

Neither of us was talking. We didn't need to. He was probably mulling over what I had said earlier.

"_So, what were you saying?"_

"_About what?"_

"_About how I scare you."_

"_Oh, yeah. It's not you; it's the thought of you leaving or getting hurt when I could stop it."_

"_I don't understand why you think you need to protect me. I'm the guy here – I'm supposed to be protecting you."_

"_You are."_

He had fallen silent about then. How was it that he could be so calm, so not nervous about this? I was scared half to death, which made his glimmering all that more noticeable. It was because I had no experience in this kind of thing and he had it all. My past relationships have all been jokes – one with a guy who came close to abusing me (Lucas) and one who pretty much betrayed his whole country (John). And now Peter, who was from the other side and I wasn't allowed to tell him even though he knew I was keeping something from him. I would have left long, long ago if I were him. With me sending mixed signals half the time and too focused the other half to try, it must have been near impossible to stay. Then again, we face what's near impossible every day. So why can't this work out?

He wanted it to. He desperately wanted it to. Did I? That was the question I asked myself constantly. Did I want for us to work out? Normally I would have said yes in a heartbeat. But things were falling into place, starting from the hot chemistry I've been ignoring since the day we met to Walter's "Olivia… Please don't tell him," up until now. Each little thing taking a strong toll on how what I felt for Peter. Walter had explained everything to me, but somehow it wasn't enough. I knew that there was no Peter of this world anymore and that fact alone almost had me crying. But I never knew that Peter. I had only known this one, the one with his arm around me now and was absentmindedly weaving his fingers through mine. The Peter whose parents have probably been worried sick about him ever since the day they lost him. What had their Elizabeth said to their Walter? _"I'm so sorry, honey! But you were here, well he looked exactly like you with a strange coat, and he said that he was taking Peter back to the lab because he had found a cure!" _Would he have believed her?

"Olivia?"

It was the first thing he said in a long time. He sounded like he had just thought long and hard about something.

"Hmm?"

"What happened back in that lab in New York… I wanted to know if that was real."

"Yes, Peter. It happened."

"That's not what I meant."

I sighed. I knew what he meant. He wanted to know if I had wanted to kiss him, because I almost did. But I had had to push him away even though I hadn't wanted to. Work came first. I had always told myself that. Saving lives was more important than saving my love life. As far as I could tell anyway.

"Peter… I try not to think about what would have happened because it didn't. We both had a job to do that day and we did it. You… you helped me get through something I needed help getting through."

He turned to me then, his face mere inches from mine. His hand was on the small of my back, turned me towards him too. "Olivia. I meant what I said – I've seriously never met anyone who can do the things that you do. You are one of the most amazing people I have ever had the chance to get to know and whenever we have a case, you don't cease to amaze me. I want you to know that I have never intentionally misled you. About anything."

"What about Rachel?"

He sighed. "Before Natt asked her out, we went out for dinner one night. That was the day before I called her, but that was it. You and her are nothing alike and I have never felt the anything for her the way I feel about you."

I had to think over those words, trying to keep from blushing. "I… To this day, I find it strange that I deceived you back to the States to save the man I was falling for, and after he died I ended up falling for you."

He smiled a gentle and breathtaking smile. "That has been what I've wanted to hear for I don't know how long." He hesitated. "If what you're saying is true… was it hard to not kiss me?" His smiled turned arrogant.

"You have no idea. I practically had to scream at myself 'get back to work!'"

"Really?"

I nodded, looking away awkwardly. "Yeah… Don't take this the wrong away… but…"

"But…?" he prompted, giving me that look of pure anxiety. He was scared I was going to reject him. Again.

I took a deep breath before I whispered the six words that I knew he wanted to hear. "I want you to kiss me."

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**YES!!!!!!!!!! I now torture you with a cliffie. Don't worry... Next (and probably last) chapter should be up before Thursday at nine. This takes place between "Peter" and "Olivia. In the Lab. With a Revolver..." so I wanna finish it between the two episodes lol. And am I the only one LOVING the name of the next episode?! Olivia. In the Lab. With a Revolver. WATCH OUT YALL!**


	4. just pick up the PHONE

**For the record, I don't like this chapter. At all. I meant to finish writing and get it uploaded yesterday, but a stupid virus ruined all that. So in my haste... this happened. That's why it starts off the way I wanted it and then switches to exactly the way I didn't want it. I don't think I could fix this so just go ahead and watch me ruin their relationship. Good luck enjoying it.**

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"I want you to kiss me."

She said them. Or did she? Did I imagine it? No. The look in her beautiful green eyes told me that I didn't imagine it. This was real. This was really happening! "Olivia…"

"I want… I want to know what would have happened if I hadn't told myself that work was more important."

I shook my head, unwillingly of course. "Olivia… I don't think today is the day to find out. You said five minutes ago that you didn't want to think about what would have happened, and now you're saying you do. Your mental well-being is at stake and all of the universes combined are in danger of being destroyed if you can't keep your head clear."

She looked back at me, with hurt in those eyes. "I'm not drunk, Peter. I know what I want, and I want you…"

I slowly pulled myself away from her. "We should get back to the reception," I said, standing up so I didn't hit my head on a branch. She refused the hand I offered to help her up. Silently, we started walking back. It was awkward.

After about five paces, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"You weren't yourself." I couldn't resist repeating the words she had said to me.

"It's lucky for me that you were."

We were silent until we got back to the reception, when a slow song started right as we walked in. Not fair, Rachel-slash-Natt. Olivia tried to slip away really quickly, but I caught her fingers before she could. "What's the rush? Am I not allowed at least one dance?" I put in as much 'I'm sorry about what just happened between us but it was kinda the right thing' as I could.

She looked at her hand, where my fingers encased her long, thin ones, and then at me. I half-smiled. "I don't think today is the day," she whispered. My words. She might as well have pulled out her gun and shot me in the gut for what those seven words did to me. I dropped her hand like it was on fire and then she was gone. Practically out of my life now. But that was what she wanted at this current second. She seemed to keep changing her mind.

I left the wedding then. Just got in my car and left. I didn't say goodbye to the bride or groom, didn't tell anyway I was leaving, didn't even have that good of a time. My car seemed to do the driving; I had no clue where I was even going. But I soon found myself in my driveway.

Walter was waiting for me at the door and he looked anxious. "Oh! Hello, Peter… How was the wedding?"

"Terrible."

"Really? Weddings are supposed to be wonderful though!"

I turned to look at him from where I stood on the stairs. "It was. But 'Liv pretty much freaked out on me and now I've decided I'm not going to work tomorrow. Or the day after. Or the rest of this month."

He didn't reply. I went to the top of the stairs and was about to go and watch TV in my bedroom, but the sound of buttons on the phone being dialed stopped me. Who was Walter calling? And where was Astrid?

A few silent seconds went by. Finally, he got a hold of whoever he was calling. "Oh, um, hello… I was wondering if- No? You didn't?" There was a brief pause. "I know, I know, but I still worry that you might accidentally tell him." A longer pause. So long I thought the call had been dropped but then he whispered, "Olivia… You don't think that, do you?" Some mumbled words on the other line that had to been yelled for me to hear and then a very faint _click_.

Olivia. He had called Olivia. To talk about what? Something he's afraid to say with me in the house, that's what. Something I'm not allowed to know. He knew something about me that he told her and probably everyone else in the world, but I couldn't know. He was scared she would tell me whatever it is. "Don't worry, Walter," I muttered under my breath. "Her loyalty to you is much more than her loyalty to me."

---

"Bye, 'Liv!" Rachel shouted as she was whisked away, off to enjoy her honeymoon. Ella was staying at a friend's house for a couple days and then I would take over watching her. So I had two days to decide and act. Tell Peter the truth? Or keep it from him and have to go through something like that again?

My phone rang in my purse. I pulled it out, looked at the caller ID, and almost threw it back in my bag. The Bishops. I didn't want to talk to either of them at the moment, but it could be case-related, so I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Oh, um hello…" Walter. I was half-relieved when I heard his almost-cheery voice. "I was wondering if…"

I cut him off. "No, Walter."

"No? You didn't?"

"No, I didn't. Believe me; you would know if he knew. You wouldn't have called."

His voice was calmer now. "I know, I know. But I still worry that you might accidentally tell him."

"Listen to me, Walter. I'm still coping with the whole idea of this. It's not something you hear every day. And for the record, he deserves to know the truth. At the same time, he deserves to feel the pain that I did when he learns his father betrayed him. Then, and only then, will I have sympathy for him. Sympathy he doesn't really deserve."

"Olivia… You don't think that, do you?"

"You have no idea." The words came out louder than I intended and some people turned to look at me with a weird face. But I was too busy hanging up on Walter to worry about them. I would regret that tomorrow when I would have to talk to him in the lab, but right now it gave me satisfaction. I got out the words I had been dying to say ever since that day in their house when I first saw Peter glimmer. And it felt wonderful.


	5. the TRUTH came out

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OMG. This chapter equals love for me. I loves it like a mama loves her little kid. This is my kid. And this chapter jumps to post-Olivia In the Lab With a Revolver, so... minor fluff spoilers ahead! So read, enjoy... Love!

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Things were very quiet and awkward after that. Whenever a case came up, all the words that were spoken were formal, even from Walter. It could have lasted for days, weeks, months. I lost track how long it really was. I think it was only a few days. We had said that we didn't want to hurt what was going on. It was too late, though. Everything happening in my life seemed to happen too late. I was sitting in the house, alone –Walter was in the lab with Astrid. I was watching a very dramatic scene from Bones that I had recorded the night before. I think that Booth was telling Brennan about his love for her all these years and she was upset because she couldn't change in order to love him back. And then there was a knock at the door. The knock was like a spark: it started the fire.

I got up and opened the door, not bothering to see who it was. But I almost slammed the door shut when Olivia half-smiled sadly back at me. "Agent Dunham," I said coolly, addressing her by her FBI alias and not the normal Olivia or Livy that I usually called her. "Do you have that file that I wanted?"

"No… Look, Peter, we need to talk."

The regret and apology was evident in her green eyes. I wanted to just grab her and hold her but that would be like forgiving a dog that just tore your head off. Or your heart out. To let her back into my life this way should be impossible, but we dealt with the impossible on a daily basis. We knew the risks.

"Okay. Well, I think Walter has figured out what might have killed Angela Taylor," I started, blindly starting into a conversation because I didn't want to have the one we would have up having.

She looked surprised; I felt guilty. I completely pulled her out of apologize-to-Peter mode and shoved her into work-on-weird-cases mode. "Really?" she asked. "What?"

"Some rare form of bird disease that hyper-mutated. Apparently she contracted it on her vacation in Hawaii. Its like some flu that they got from these bugs that they eat and then it morphed into something humans can get." I hesitated for a couple beats. "But he's not sure."

That did it. The second she knew that it was just a hypothesis and not for certain, she was reminded of the matter she had come here about. "Peter…"

I just glanced away. "Look, everything I ever said to you was the absolute truth." I looked back at her, zoning in on her eyes. "Especially that I wanted to hear that you were falling for me. Because for sometime now, I have known that I'm in love with you, Olivia. And when you just rejected me like that… It takes a toll."

"Please… don't say you're in love with me… You can't…"

Her eyes were looking over my shoulder. I grabbed her forearms and made her look at me. "Olivia. I'm telling you."

"Peter, it's not what you think! I don't want you to say that because… because if you did, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep the secret."

"What secret, 'Livia…?"

She took a deep breath. "You- you're from the other universe, Peter… You glimmer, just like the building. Walter said that-"

I cut her off. "I'm not from the other side. I would know. I would know!"

"Walter said that the Peter of this side died when he was little, and that he went to the other side to get you, to save your life because their Walter didn't see that he had made the cure to save you! The Observer distracted Walternate, as Walter called him, and didn't see it. He moved on, but Walter synthesized the cure and saved your life!"

I took a step towards her, almost threateningly, and she took two small ones backwards. "Olivia, you should leave. Now." She nodded, swallowed, and literally ran down the walk to her Navigator. I had the door shut before she was down the steps. I would deal with Walter later, but I had to get out of here. Leave Boston and find some little place where I could fall off the face of the Earth. Olivia had just lied to me. She had _lied_ about where I was from! She tried to make it seem like I wasn't of this universe! That's a sick joke if I ever knew one. It wasn't right! How was it that only seconds after I tell her that I love her, she goes and lies to me about something I've always said was important to me! …How do you love that person who had taken the risk to say they were already falling for you?

I was already half-packed, ready to leave, but that question made me stop dead.

She had to have been telling the truth. She didn't lie, about anything. True, she lied the first day she met me, but that was the only lie she had ever told me. And that lie made me do the best thing I ever did – reconnect with Walter.

Because that's the question – How do you love someone? How do you love someone when you know, deep down, that they're just going to break your heart or you'll break theirs? How do you love someone with your own father never loved you enough to tell you the truth? You love that person in a way that's unconditional, in a way that you've never felt before.

Then I stopped and looked back at my empty closet. Walter wasn't my father. Not genetically, anyway. Only figuratively, and I can't live with that alone. I needed someone who has never hurt me on purpose, who never made me do anything. And all those signs led straight to Olivia. She's always been there for me, and the only reason she kept this from me now was because she didn't want to hurt me. Doesn't mean she didn't.

Walter, on the other hand… He's the only father I can remember. Thanks to him trying to make sure I didn't die when I came here, I can't remember my real father. But the man whose is the reason I'm alive is the Walter from this side. I'd deal with him later.

Olivia told me the truth would no one else thought I was worth it. And it wasn't like Walter just up and told her, she saw the glimmer first. And I had kind of caused that.

I threw the suitcase back on my bed and ran downstairs. But as I yanked open the door, I saw that Olivia was already gone.

---

I parked outside my flat and just sat in my car. Peter knew the truth now. He knew because I had told him. He was probably no longer in Boston because of me. Me. Why is it always me?!

My head dropped against the steering wheel. I couldn't do this without him. I couldn't keep up with Walter, or interview suspects, or just be in the Fringe division with him. Fringe cases weren't Fringe cases without Peter. I wanted him, I needed him to help me out here! But I had ruined it all, just because he had said the words I knew would make me tell him the truth. Now what did I have? Nothing. Nothing but a weight off my shoulders.

I sat up and pulled the key out of the ignition. Rachel and Ella had moved out to like with Natt in his all-American house across town, and I could just break down if I really needed to. But all I really wanted to do was to go to sleep; today had been a very long day.

I got out and went up to the door leading me into the lobby. Mr. Harrison, the doorman, waved cheerfully at me as I walked by. I gave him a half-smile before continuing to my door. All my attention was focused on finding my keys in my purse and unlocking the door. The door closed behind me and I pretty much just stumbled into my bedroom, pulled on a tank top and Bermuda shorts, crawled under my covers, and fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

(some time later…)

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I really felt awake. It was the first time in a very, very long time. Usually I still felt a little sleepy when I woke up, but I was truly awake now. But I didn't leave my soft mattress and comforting cotton sheets. The feeling of relaxation was addicting and I actually didn't want to get up.

The phone rang about ten minutes after I woke up. I rolled over and picked up the phone. The front desk in the lobby… Why was Harrison calling me at… ten in the morning?!

I hit the Answer button and said a cherry "Hello?"

"Ah, Miss Dunham! You have a visitor!" I rolled my eyes. I didn't see the point of calling to announce that. The doorbell would have gone off two minutes later anyway.

But I smiled anyway. "Thank you!" I said, and we hung up. Harrison was weird – and I'm queen of the weird, so I should know weird.

I got up and changed into a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. Simple yet not work-worthy. Three knocks tapped on my front door. I went to get it while pulling my hair back in a elastic band, but when I looked through the peep-hole, I pulled it back on my wrist. Hair down would be preferable.

I swung open the door and smiled a wide smile. "Peter!" I whispered, automatically giving him a bear hug. Once I realized what I was doing, though, I backed up. But he was grinning back at me. "You- you didn't leave!"

He slipped past me into my apartment, taking a comfortable seat on the couch. "Yeah, I didn't leave," he said, amused. "Although… I was quite close."

I sat across from him awkwardly. "But you didn't."

He nodded. "I almost left because I thought you were lying… and then I was even closer once I realized you were telling the truth. But I talked to Walter about it… and you were right. He did it to save me.

"But… you still stayed…"

"I stayed because I knew I couldn't leave behind the people I loved." He leaned closer to me over the coffee table. "I couldn't leave you." I looked away, not wanting him to say that again.

"And… you're cool with this?"

"Hey! How many people do you know can say are from the other side? Yeah, just me. It makes me awesome."

"You sound like a five-year-old."

He shrugged. "So? I'm still awesome."

We talked like that for a while. I got us some drinks –just some water, it was still pretty early- and we talked about the case, and Walter, and about how Peter was from the other universe. Little, innocent things like that. Because neither of us wanted to bring up the subject that needed to be brought up. But it would be, we both knew that.

* * *

**Whew, thats long. I love it. Review for your favorite story! LOL I know you love it.**


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